Mackenzie Melichar is a political dissident, student, writer, and literary editor at the University of Toronto. She splits her time between her home city of Toronto and the DMV area.

Melichar has a background in social media and in-person campaigning for animal rights, having been involved in Toronto’s vegan movement as a teenager (2017-2019). Currently, she is pursuing an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy at the University of Toronto (Victoria College, St. George’s campus), with a double minor in Creative Writing and Political Science.

Melichar at a march for animal rights (Greater Toronto Area; May 13th, 2018; age 15).

Above all, she is dedicated to being politically independent and fostering open dialogue about the most controversial topics of our time. She is most interested in writing about and campaigning for fundamental animal rights (veganism as a moral baseline; by extension, the abolition of animal exploitation) and total female emancipation from male dominance (the abolition of rape, prostitution, pornography, and surrogacy). She is a proud survivor of incestuous childhood sexual abuse. You can read her work here, here, or here.

She also writes creatively under the pen name River Franklin, focusing primarily on short stories and poetry. As such, she is a literary editor at Goose Fiction and Kalopsia Literary Journal. You can read her creative work here.

Melichar is currently reading The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. (What should she read next? What are you reading? Tell her here).